1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a water-based ink for ink jet recording, an ink cartridge, and an ink jet recording apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been suggested addition of a surfactant in order to improve the re-dispersion property of a water-based ink for ink jet recording using a pigment (hereinafter sometimes referred to as “water-based pigment ink”) (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-152072 corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 6,569,231).
In addition to the excellent re-dispersion property, the water-based pigment ink is required to have a satisfactory vaporization property, and is required not to cause white-striped or white-streaked unevenness (banding) in a recorded image. However, it is difficult to improve all of the properties of the water-based pigment ink.
In view of the above, an object of the present teaching is to provide a water-based ink for ink-jet recording using a pigment which has an excellent re-dispersion property, has a satisfactory vaporization property, and is capable of obtaining an recorded image in which white-striped or white-striped unevenness (banding) is suppressed.
Further, the water-based ink for ink jet recording using the pigment is required to improve an optical density (OD value). In order to achieve this, various suggestions have been made (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-189870 corresponding to United States Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0114013 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2007-145925). The water-based ink for ink jet recording using the pigment is required to have not only a high optical density (OD value) but also the excellent re-dispersion property.
In view of the above, another object of the present teaching is to provide a water-based ink for inkjet recording using a pigment which has a high optical density (OD value) and an excellent re-dispersion property.